Last week Malema showed us his romantic side, with a heartfelt message posted to Mantwa on her birthday.

“After attending the dignified send off of Bra Hugh Masekela, I had to rush home to spend quality time with my wife because today is a special day in our family. Please Mma go Bašimane allow me the privilege of being next to you even in your next 50 birthdays to come because it feels good. I love you my management and happy birthday!”

Usually fiercely secretive about his personal life, Malema opened up to Real Talk with Anele host Anele Mdoda in an interview in 2016, sharing how she completes him.

“She completes me. She is able to speak a lot of sense and persuade me to see things differently and get me to do things I haven’t done,” Malema told Mdoda.

He also shared how his wife had influenced the kind of TV programmes he was watching.

“Things I used to think are girlish programmes on TV, now I get to watch and they are nicer,” he said. “I didn’t realise I liked them.”

Malema and Mantwa Matlala tied the knot in 2014 in a private affair attended by friends, colleagues and family members.

“There are no longer boring days. When you’re stressed, when things don’t go well, when you’re still deciding which party to go with, DA or the ANC, you go home and you even forget you have a big task to deal with. Because home is nicer like that,” he said.

Male might be a tough guy in public, but at home he says he’s a very different man.

“Even if I put ‘Do Not Disturb’ on the phone, I put [my wife] to ‘Favourites’ so she can come through. Because if you miss that one, you know you are in trouble at home,” he teased. “You don’t want Baghdad at home – at home it must be peaceful.”